The number of techniques for managing electronic communications has increased rapidly over recent years. Voice communications such as telephone communications are typically managed electronically within both homes and businesses, such that answering machines, voice mail systems, and call forwarding mechanisms handle calls when no one is physically present to accept the calls. Occasionally, a recording will provide a calling party with a pager number in order to reach an individual more promptly. Similarly to voice communications, text communications may also be received instantaneously through text messaging techniques on mobile devices or through email accounts using instant messaging when a person is present to receive the communications. Typically however, email communications remain in queue until a recipient logs into an email account to check messages.
Even when a recipient is present to receive voice or text communications, the recipient may want to receive the communications only from selected individuals and may want to avoid sales calls, spam messages, or communications from individuals unknown to the recipient. Caller ID is frequently used to assist a telephone user in determining which calls to accept. Additionally, various filtering systems have been developed to appropriately handle email from unknown addresses.
In order to initiate contact using either a voice method or a text method, a sender must locate an email address or telephone number referencing the targeted recipient. A current storage structure for such information is a database field entry such as those used for storing contacts in electronic mail programs. An alternative structure is a listing, such as a web page or a phone book having a list of telephone numbers. These storage techniques often result in out-of-date information and lack of individual control over the stored information.
The aforementioned techniques for handling electronic communications do not provide an overall management scheme. Typically, individuals possess many electronic devices for receiving various types of information electronically. These devices include for example: cellular telephones; home telephones; office telephones; pagers; and personal computers. It would be desirable for individuals to have control over which entities are authorized to communicate with them and over which devices such communication would be authorized at any given time. Accordingly, there is a need for a solution, which allows increased individual control over electronic contacts. There is also a need for a comprehensive approach for managing incoming communications and outgoing communications.